


Anastasis

by PhoenixGryffin



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Gen, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 16:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1476802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixGryffin/pseuds/PhoenixGryffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He stares at the exhibit more intensely in an attempt to somehow absorb all the words, get them ingrained inside his head, possibly remember who he might have once been a long time ago. But nothing comes of it. The article talking about “Bucky Barnes” is as elusive as ever. The man with the same face as him simply stares back- the man who was Captain America’s best friend, brave and true and every inch a hero, until his untimely death.<br/> </p><p>Set following the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anastasis

“Mister?”

He’s back in the museum- back once again, returned to dredge up the ghosts of what, in a former life, might have once been his past. It’s his fifth day visiting, and if he’s honest with himself, he doesn’t really know why he’s there or what he means to do.

“Mister?”

He stares at the exhibit more intensely in an attempt to somehow absorb all the words, get them ingrained inside his head, possibly remember who he might have once been a long time ago. But nothing comes of it. The article talking about “Bucky Barnes” is as elusive as ever. The man with the same face as him simply stares back- the man who was Captain America’s best friend, brave and true and every inch a hero, until his untimely death. Whoever this Bucky Barnes was, he shares nothing with the lost maybe-person currently staring desperately at the exhibit.

He turns to leave, vaguely disgusted with himself for searching for answers where there were clearly none to be had.

“Mister?” There’s a child, a small boy he doesn’t know how old, and the child seems to be asking him a question. 

(He has killed a child this age before, killed multiple children, he remembers it now.)

But he’s not going to ignore the child. All questions must be answered directly, after all. Even if this question is not from Pierce or any of the other high-ranking HYDRA agents.

“Yes?” he says, hoping he sounds unconcerned, hoping he sounds normal, like a human and not the weapon that he truly is-

“Um, this is weird, but are you Bucky Barnes?” And he freezes, it was _downright idiotic_ to come here, of _course_ he would be recognized. (If one can even call it recognized- he’s not even truly sure that he is or ever was in fact Bucky, this Bucky who was so good. How could he- a tool for HYDRA, a weapon without a soul, have been a hero once?)

“N-” He pauses, the words _No, I’m not_ frozen on his tongue, unwilling to be said. He may not be Bucky Barnes now, but he _wants_ it, wants to be that hero so desperately with every fiber of his being. 

The child is staring up at him, clearly impatient for an answer. 

He stares at the man with his face and two real arms once more, and thinks of what his mission- no, Steve Rogers, his name was Steve Rogers, it says so right here in this museum, he was a hero and he had been Bucky’s best friend- had said to him. _I’m with you till the end of the line._ Steve Rogers, whoever he was, had still believed in him, believed that somewhere deep inside he truly was Bucky Barnes.

And maybe he was. Not today, and maybe it would take a while, but maybe, just maybe, he could be Bucky again, or at least a fraction of who he had once been. A hero, and Steve Rogers’ best friend.

“Not yet,” he says, and leaves the museum despite the kid’s protestations. (“What do you _mean_ ‘not yet’, that doesn’t make any sense!”)

The kid has a point- it makes absolutely no sense. Bucky Barnes is dead, Bucky Barnes has been dead for _years._

But Steve Rogers believes in him, and because of that, maybe he can live again.

**Author's Note:**

> "Anastasis" is the Greek word for resurrection.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
